


The Phantom's Game

by FrostByteMyrik



Category: Danny Phantom, The World Ends With You
Genre: Alternate take on events pre-Kingdom Hearts 3D, Crossover, Eventual Romance, Gen, JoshNeku and GrayGhost come in but like..., Not Phantom Planet Compliant, Post-A New Day, Romance isn't the main focus, Trans Danny Fenton, eventually, it's not the focus either but it's mentioned, post-d-stabilized
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-04
Updated: 2019-09-04
Packaged: 2020-10-10 03:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,335
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20521505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FrostByteMyrik/pseuds/FrostByteMyrik
Summary: Neku and his friends are gone, erased by Coco's new Game. But their dreams remain... Sacrificing everything for the one person who values him over Shibuya itself, Joshua gathers the scattered dreams of his friends and takes off, in search of a new world, where perhaps he could make them exist again. He finds a dimension of ectoplasm, which can give form to the souls of his friends, make them whole again...Meanwhile, there are strange goings on in Amity Park. There are strange ghosts with black wings, and others with timers on their hands. And what is up with those new kids from Japan setting off his ghost sense?This work will contain a brief summary of either series and what's going on, for those who are new to DP or TWEWY. It's recommended that the reader looks up what the characters look like.





	The Phantom's Game

**Author's Note:**

> TWEWY is about Neku, a boy from the Shibuya district of Tokyo, Japan, and his efforts to win the Reaper's Game, a competition between the dead for a second chance at life. The game lasts for a week, with one mission per day. Missions are often timed, and if no Players complete the Mission within the time limit, all Players get erased. Neku and his friends: Beat, Shiki, and Beat's little sister Rhyme get restored to life after convincing one of Neku's ex-Partners, Joshua (the real mind behind the game) to spare Shibuya and himself from destruction.  
Prior to the events of Kingdom Hearts 3D, Neku and his friends get erased. Joshua collects what's left of them and searches for somewhere to keep their dreams safe. Events in this fic diverge when Joshua ends up in the Ghost Zone of Danny Phantom's world, rather than Traverse Town of the Kingdom Hearts canon.
> 
> DP is about the son of two ghost hunters, who becomes half ghost due to an accident in their lab. Danny Fenton, the main character, keeps Amity Park safe with the help of his two friends, Sam and Tucker, as well as his sister, Jazz, while hiding his secret identity from the world.  
After convincing Valerie Gray (a skilled huntress that has mutual romantic feelings for Danny but hates Danny's alter ego, Phantom) to save his clone, Dani, Valerie comes to a shocking realization; her employer, Vlad Masters, is half ghost, and is just using her. She doesn't know who or what to believe, but she knows that Phantom probably has the answers she seeks...

Joshua is tired. Gathering souls and stuffing them into ectoplasm is a lot easier than working with pins, sure, but it's harder to manage because now they're conscious as he pieces them together.

"Really, it's okay. I don't need my memory," Rhyme asserts.

Beat's glare at Josh hasn't let up since he began. "Yo, you'd better fix this!"

Joshua sighs heavily. "As I've tried explaining for, what, half an hour? This is a delicate process. And if it weren't for me, she wouldn't even exist right now. Or you, for that matter. The least you could do is show a bit of gratitude. Or just let me work."

"For all I know, this whole situation is your fault!"

Joshua ignores him, delicately weaving Rhyme's dreams back into her consciousness. "Where are you from, Rhyme?" He hopes this time, it worked.

"Shibuya," she recalls. "Wait...Beat. Aren't you my brother?"

Rhyme finds herself almost immediately crushed in a tight hug from Beat. "You're back!! You remember me!"

"Be delicate," Josh hisses. "Her mind is still fragile. Give her time to recover."

"Yo, can't you just magic her recovery up right now?"

"If it was that simple, don't you think I would've done it?" _It's for Neku_, he reminds himself. _I didn't do all this for nothing. It was for Neku._ Though Joshua doesn't particularly dislike any of Neku's friends (besides Beat, when he's being difficult), he would never have gone through all this if it wasn't for the benefit of the one person who ever actually cared about him. "Say, where's Neku?"

"Over here," comes the reply from the kitchen. Joshua gets up from where he was sitting and makes his way over to him.

"Neku, please don't touch the food. You don't need to eat anymore, remember? But _I _do. And after all the work I do to rebuild you and your friends, it gets hard to conjure up food for myself."

"Well, what else am I supposed to do? You keep us from going outside. You don't even tell us where the hell we are!" Neku stares out the window of what Joshua calls his "lair," seeing a mostly-empty, swirling green abyss as far as he can see. Floating islands are scattered throughout the landscape. "Why are those islands floating? Why is everyone here glowing except for you? Why can we _fly_ now?!"

Joshua giggles.

"Answer me, Josh!"

"Sorry, it's just... I didn't think you'd complain about being able to fly." He remembers the twinge of jealousy on Neku's face, back when they were partnered in the Game, when Joshua first revealed that he could levitate.

"I'm not complaining! I'm just confused."

Joshua is silent for a moment. "So am I. If I had to guess, we're in some kind of UG. But with the sheer excess of energy here...maybe it's even lower. But we're far from home. And I don't know if we could ever go back."

* * *

Danny is jolted from his sleep by a shiver, running up his spine before it escapes his mouth, his breath freezing as it hits the air. He groans. He's been woken up by his ghost sense before, but it's never pleasant. And he knows that he can't just ignore it, being bound by his duty to protect Amity Park. He smacks himself awake, pulling himself out of bed and finding a place to stand in his messy room.

He reaches within himself for the familiar chill of his ghost form, bringing it out from within his chest. A glowing white ring splits from the center of his body and goes up, sucking out the warmth of life and the breath from his lungs. The cold spandex helps his mind snap to reality, as he releases gravity's hold of himself and passes through his window.

What he sees is...not what he expects. He sees a pair of teenagers. Students from his school, he recognizes. But...they're glowing, just like ghosts. And he sees something red coming from a hand on each of them. But the strangest thing is, nobody else seems to even notice them, or the strange ghosts they're fighting. They seem to be a tattoo artist's zoo brought to life; frogs with strange legs that don't seem to be part of their bodies, birds with beaks made from sharp, floating lines that move rigidly. Fire erupts on the battlefield, seeming to be controlled by one of the teen ghosts, as the other slashes at a frog with her nails, causing it to erupt into static and disappear.

Danny doesn't quite know what's going on, but he decides that his help is needed. He focuses power into his palms, which erupts as green beams of light that hit the two remaining birds spot-on. The teens look up with shock, and then delight.

"Danny Phantom! We should've known you'd help us!"

He's able to get a closer look at the two, a pair of girls who were part of the school band. "What's going on? Are you two alright?"

"Yeah," the one in pink who wielded the fire says. Her bruises begin to heal. The red on her hand vanishes before Phantom has a chance to see what it was. "For being dead, anyway. But you'd know, huh? We-" She freezes. Danny turns around, spotting an unknown ghost in a hoodie walking towards the trio. Danny stiffens, preparing for a fight. The hooded ghost doesn't flinch.

"Danny Phantom, is it?"

"Maybe." His eyes narrow. "Who's asking?"

"We've been told to watch out for you. You will get this warning: you are not a Player. Do not interfere with the Reaper's Game, or you will be erased."

Phantom scrunches his face in confusion. "Reaper's Game? What? And who's 'we'?"

"That is none of your concern."

"Actually, I'd say it is." His hands and eyes glow a fierce green. "Amity Park's under my protection. You wanna hurt these kids? You gotta get through me."

The ghost in the hood grunts. "So be it."

Two of those weird tattoo-bird-ghosts appear, and a pair of tiny black wings sprout from his back. The birds he summoned dive after Phantom, who shoots himself into the sky. He looks down and aims a blast at the hooded ghost, who counters it with a spark of blue energy. The birds continue to tail him, and the hooded ghost uses his greatly undersized wings to bring himself into the air as well. Thinking fast, Phantom grabs the bird closest to him, ramming its beak into the other. The two fade into static, and he turns his focus back to the hooded ghost. He flies in close, but his opponent dodges back with each hit, countering with a blue sphere that hits Phantom square in the chest.

He regains his balance in the air, deciding that a long-range approach would be best. "You need to chill!" His eyes and hands give off a blue aura, as icicles fire from his palms. They take the ghost by surprise and cause him to plummet. Unclicking his Fenton Thermos from his belt in preparation to capture this new foe, he bolts down.

"Know this, 'Danny Phantom.' The conductor has no tolerance for those who interfere. You've made a powerful enemy today."

"What else is new?" He uncaps the thermos and holds the button down, causing the thermos to erupt with blue light. But, instead of getting sucked in as Phantom expected, the ghost vanishes in a haze of static, just like the birds he summoned. Releasing his hold on the button, Phantom takes a step back in shock and looks around. The ghost is nowhere to be seen, nor are the girls from his school.

"Geez. Reaper's Game, huh? What was that all about?" As much as he wishes he could ponder that further, a yawn builds up and releases itself. Sensing no more ghosts, Phantom flies back in through the window, letting the warmth of life enter him once more before passing out on his bed.

**Author's Note:**

> So how obvious is it that this is the first fic I've written since middle school? My bae convinced me to write this, and so here I am. Kudos and comments are much appreciated! And for those unfamiliar with TWEWY or DP, the workings of their worlds will be explained when the characters explain them to each other later on. Thanks for making it to the end! I hope to continue. (Also, feel free to steal my idea of a DP/TWEWY crossover, especially if you think you can do it better. I would love to read it!)


End file.
